Xi’s South Africa Visit Starts With $6.5 Billion in Accords

Chinese President Xi Jinping who was in the country on a two-day State visit left for South Africa this morning where he is scheduled to attend the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, chats to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, right, upon his arrival in Harare, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Xi, the first Chinese president to set foot in Zimbabwe since 1996, and his wife, Peng Liyuan, were greeted by 91-year-old Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Wang said China’s shift in focus would address Africa’s two most urgent tasks, accelerating industrialisation and agricultural modernisation.

China and Zimbabwe are expected to ink a series of cooperation deals covering such fields as infrastructure construction, investment, financing, culture and wildlife protection.

“We await the visit with very great interest and when he visits us we shall discuss some of the projects and programs we would want China to assist us in undertaking”, said Mugabe. And in the face of western sanctions, China is a major investor in Zimbabwe, helping to keep the lights on.

The summit is believed to be a historic event that will help strengthen China-Africa solidarity and usher China-Africa win-win cooperation and common development, Xi added.

Xi will fly to South Africa on Wednesday, where he is expected to preside over a China-Africa economic and investment conference from December 4 to 5. “We agree that both countries should make full use of this, to translate our friendship into concrete impetus for mutual benefit”, said Xi.

China is Zimbabwe’s biggest foreign investor, pumping in 600 million USA dollars (£398 million) in 2013, according to Chinese ambassador to Harare, Huang Ping.

“The Chinese don’t know if there is a succession plan in Zimbabwe”, said the Chinese businessman in Harare.

Jiang Jianguo, minister of the State Council Information Office, delivers the keynote speech at the China-Africa Media Summit in Cape Town, South Africa on Tuesday.

Apart from deals signed yesterday, China has provided credit worth millions of dollars to fund several capital projects in the country, including the expansion of the Kariba South power station, upgrading of the Harare’s water and sanitation works and the expansion of the Victoria Falls International Airport.

President Xi Jinping’s five-day trip to Africa comes as the continent suffers more than anywhere else from China’s slowing economic growth and an associated rout in the value of the region’s commodities exports. He’ll then receive a similar reception in South Africa before participating in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg on Friday and Saturday – the first such gathering to be held in Africa. Bilateral trade reached $1.24 billion in 2014, marking a year-on-year increase of 12.7 per cent. “It has milestone importance to the development of Africa-China relations and more balanced, inclusive and sustainable development of the world”, said the leader of the world’s most populous country.